And Jehovah the God of their fathers sent to them by his messengers, rising up early and sending; because he had compassion on his people and on his dwelling-place.
Chronicles ends with Judah's last kings and the burning of the temple. Just before the Babylonian armies arrive, the writer stops to explain why God had waited so long. This verse is that explanation: messenger after messenger, and the reason God kept sending them.
The ESV says God "sent persistently to them by his messengers." Older translations read "rising up early and sending." One writer explains the phrase, and why God sent prophets at all:
Israel failed, as all have except Christ, who was perfect in every way. Yet God still tests man. He sends prophets to call the people back to the law, and so "the Law and the Prophets were until John." Under God's government of the world, obedience was the way to happiness. So the prophets called the people back to obedience. This failed too, and God says, in touching grace, that He "sent to them by His messengers, rising up early [or continually and carefully] and sending."
The sending went on for generations. One writer puts it as God's unwillingness to withdraw:
God did not know how to withdraw His prophets from Israel, still rising up early and sending them, though generations had refused them.
The verse names two objects of compassion. The second one explains why God bore with Judah so long:
God bore long with Ephraim: "How can I give you up, O Ephraim? How can I hand you over, O Israel?" He bore with even greater long-suffering the greater provocations of Judah. For His house was in Jerusalem, and His name was recorded there. Later Judah broke the covenant too, and judgment became certain. Even then divine pity lingered — for we know Who wept with human tears over Jerusalem.
God sent these messengers in compassion, yet the next verse says the people mocked them. A prophet's work explains why:
The prophets dealt with the people's sin, exposing it fearlessly in the light of truth, righteousness, and God's judgment... They held man's wicked will up against the light of God, and that light condemned it. This is what drew out Israel's hostility. It made the prophet a man dishonoured and hated, nowhere more than in his own country. God was brought near; and guilty man will not have God at any price.
The verse is the first half of a sentence that ends in disaster. One writer sees in that delay a principle God always follows:
This, we believe, is always God's way. He does not act in judgment until the evil is fully shown. It was so with the Amorite nations, as Genesis 15:16 shows. It was so with the kings and people in Jerusalem, as 2 Chronicles 36:11-20 testifies.
Another writer traces the same pattern down to our own day:
In infinite patience the Lord still waited for the return of His people. Judgment is His strange work, but He delights in mercy... But they mocked the messengers, despised God's gracious offers and misused His prophets, till there was no remedy. An awful statement... And this age too, with its rejection of God's best, is approaching a day when there will be no remedy and the judgment will fall.
The sending did not end with the prophets. One writer sees the same story continued:
It reads like a continuation of the historical statements made in 2 Chronicles 36:15-16. There it was God appealing by His "messengers, rising up early and sending;" but the people mocked and mistreated them all until "there was no remedy," and "He brought upon them the king of the Chaldeans." Here the story goes one step further: God sends the "Beloved Son," and they cast Him out and kill Him.
Some treat a Bible full of rebukes and failures as an embarrassment. One writer turns that around:
Inspired history is true history, and gives the evil as well as the good... That the patience of God went on rising up early and sending prophets, till there was no remedy, unbelief throws back in God's face. I adore Him for it, as for all His goodness.
- Compassion first. The whole activity of this verse has one stated cause — God had compassion on His people and on His dwelling place. Judgment is His strange work; He delights in mercy.
- Compassion sends. "Rising up early" means continually and carefully. He kept sending long after refusal. He did not know how to withdraw His prophets from a people who had refused them for generations.
- Compassion is resisted. Prophets held man's will up against God's light, and men hated them for it. God was brought near, and guilty man will not have God at any price.
- Compassion has a limit. God holds back judgment until evil has shown itself in full — but when refusal hardens till there is no remedy, the Chaldeans come.
- Compassion sends the Son. The story does not stop at messengers. God sent the Beloved Son last of all, and men cast Him out and killed Him. The same warning stands over every age that rejects God's best.
But they mocked at the messengers of God, and despised his words, and scoffed at his prophets, until the fury of Jehovah rose against his people, and there was no remedy.
This verse is God's last word about Judah before the exile to Babylon, and it is not about their idols but about His patience. It also raises a hard question: how can mercy reach a point where nothing helps?
The mocking in verse 16 answers something God did first. One writer shows why God kept sending prophets, and what moved Him to do it.
God still tries man, however. He sends prophets to call the people back to law... Obedience was the way of happiness for man under God's government of the world, so the prophets called back to obedience as the way of man's happiness. This, too, failed. God says it with touching grace: "And the Lord God of their fathers sent to them by His messengers, rising up early [or continually and carefully] and sending; because He had compassion on His people and on His dwelling-place."
The verse names three targets: the messengers, His words, His prophets. One writer traces that hatred to its root.
The prophets dealt with the people's sin. They exposed it boldly in the light of truth, righteousness, and God's judgment... The light of God met the wicked will of man and condemned it. That is what drew out the hatred of Israel, and made the prophet a target of dishonour and opposition — nowhere so much as in his own country. God was brought near; and guilty man will not have God at any price.
The word "until" marks a limit. One writer sees a settled rule in the way God waits.
This, we believe, is always God's way. He does not act in judgment until evil has fully shown itself. It was so with the Amorite nations, as shown in Genesis 15:16. It was so with the kings and people in Jerusalem, as testified in 2 Chronicles 36:11-20.
Their refusal of God's messengers had a cost, and one writer notes the shape that cost took.
This proud refusal of both God's goodness and His authority brought on the final attack of the king of the Chaldeans. He killed their young men even in the house of their sanctuary (v. 17). They had no regard for the holiness of the place. But after all, Judah had shown contempt for God's house. How could they expect anything better from godless nations?
One writer sees a parable of Jesus as this chapter carried further.
The parable reads like a continuation of what 2 Chronicles 36:15-16 records. There God appealed through His "messengers, rising up early and sending." The people mocked and mistreated them all, until "there was no remedy," and "He brought upon them the king of the Chaldees." Here the story goes one step further. God sends the "Beloved Son," and they cast Him out and kill Him. So a worse punishment than the Chaldeans was to come upon them.
One writer applies the same warning to our own day.
Their turning away from God and their defiance of Him grew so great that there was no remedy. At last the storm clouds of judgment broke, and the people were carried away into captivity... And this age too, with its rejection of God's best, is approaching a day when there will be no remedy and the judgment will fall.
The story does not stop at the ruin. One writer sees in Cyrus a picture of someone greater.
In all their past history God's patience rises above their sin. Still they turned a deaf ear and refused His correction... Therefore He brought upon them the king of the Chaldeans (2 Chron. 36:15, etc.) until Cyrus arose — a picture of their Messiah, who will bring in a greater and final restoration.
- Compassion sends. God rose early and kept sending, because He had compassion on His people and on His dwelling place.
- Compassion is mocked. The prophets brought God near, and guilty man would not have Him. So they hated the messenger, not just the message.
- Compassion has a limit. God never judges until evil has fully shown itself. But "no remedy" shows the limit is real.
- Compassion despised. Judah showed contempt for God's house, and the Chaldeans showed none either. The punishment took the shape of the sin.
- Compassion has a last word. After the prophets came the Son, and after the Chaldeans came Cyrus — a picture of the Messiah who brings the greater and final restoration.